


Mistakes in Haste

by villainsarebetter (darkling59)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark One's Dagger, Extended Scene, Possibly eventual Rumbelle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 16:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3736297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkling59/pseuds/villainsarebetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Contrary to popular belief, Zelena was not the first one to get her hands on the Dagger - Anna was.  The time that the Dagger spent in Anna's possession was brief, but it was the first time Rumplestiltskin was at another's mercy since becoming the Dark One and it made an impact.</p><p>(An introspective Rumple-centric re-write of the flashback dagger scene in 4x04.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistakes in Haste

All it took was a single second of carelessness, a fraction of a moment where he was slightly less focused than he should have been, and suddenly Rumpelstiltskin's life was no longer his own.

That goddamned mouse. He should have killed the Apprentice when he'd had the chance!

He should have been home free. He'd braved the obstacles, removed the threat of the Apprentice, the hat was in his possession, and his dagger was the key to its opening. Anna wasn't an issue; she was just an ignorant child who'd gotten in over her head, a pawn who was ready to be dismissed from the board. To be perfectly honest, Rumple probably would have released her as soon as he had what he needed.

...Except for the mouse.

Apparently even rendered magic-less, the Apprentice was a threat.

The next thirty seconds passed in a blur.

_The mouse dropping out of nowhere and biting directly into the primary tendon of his hand..._

_...His hand reflexively opening as he knocked the beast away..._

_...The clatter of the Kris Dagger hitting the floor..._

_...Sudden blinding panic and horror as he realized it was out of his possession..._

_...Lunging for the dagger even as it came to rest closer to the Arendellian princess..._

...And then the unfamiliar restraint of her hands on the blade as she snatched it up, like chains tightening around his very soul. He could feel her ownership as if a blanket had been thrown over his head, restricting his movements and muting his magic beyond use. He'd never lost the dagger before, but in that moment he knew that she owned him, that the foolish girl swinging it around like a particularly ineffective sword... _who didn't even know what she was holding_... was the master of his magic and his soul.

In desperation, he continued after her, knowing he couldn't hurt her while she held his dagger but hoping he could startle her into dropping it. Then the first command hit.

"Don't come any closer!"

He froze instantly and then stepped unwillingly backwards, retreating before he'd registered his own movement. There had been absolutely no hesitation in his body's response to the command; one minute he was lunging forward intent on the attack and the next, without any decision on his part, he was not.

Like a puppet on strings, he'd obeyed.

There was no way even this willfully ignorant girl could miss the connection.

"Wait..." Her eyes narrowed and she cocked her head, watching him in obvious confusion. "You're not coming any closer just because I told you not to?"

The Dark One absently shook his hand, healing the torn tendon from the mouse's attack, but his eyes remained fixed on the dagger and panic clawed at his chest, strangling any reply he might have given. She had not asked a question, so he was not bound to enlighten her on the situation. Yet.

He observed the moment she registered the focus of his attention, and the dawning realization in her eyes, with a sinking heart.

"I get it..." She smiled, even as Rumpelstiltskin tried (and failed) to maintain a steady blank expression. "As long as I have this...wavy knife, you have to do as I say, don't you?"

A direct question. He couldn't not answer it. No matter how much he wanted to keep the answer from escaping, his very body was against him. He felt his mouth form the words against his consent.

"Yes. That's how it works."

"Is that one of the limits you spoke of? Is that why you want the hat?To free yourself from the control of this dagger?" Her smile was growing. Internally, Rumpelstiltskin cursed himself for a fool. Why had he told her that? Why had he spoken to her at all?! He should have killed her as soon as her purpose was fulfilled!

Her conclusion was a bit of a logical stretch, though. Apparently Anna wasn't quite as gormless as he'd assumed. He mulled over his answer, trying to stall by picking his words carefully rather than resisting fully. He was growing accustomed to the sensation of being dagger-bound, enough to search for a way to handle it and turn it to his advantage. Unfortunately, Anna gave him no time to work it out.

"Answer me!"

"To be free of the dagger's control and to keep my power. Yes." The words spilled out in an angry snarl, unable to evade her demand.

"Yeah, I can't let you walk out of here with that." She gestured at the hat with his dagger and he stared at her like she was insane, dumbfounded that she had the gall to demand that the Dark One give up the fruits of his labor. "So...please...give me the box."

Slowly, mechanically, he stepped forward and offered her the hat, placing it gently in her hand. He wanted to howl in anger, to attack or retreat, to clutch his hard-won prize close and destroy this girl who had somehow become a threat, but he could not. Had she ordered him to kneel at her feet, he would have done so. Had she ordered him to slit his own throat, he would have done that too.

...He'd always known the control of the dagger would be absolute, but he'd never envisioned just how helpless that would make him feel, how frightened and angry and horribly _vulnerable_.

"Remember dearie, you can't keep hold of that dagger forever. And you don't want to be on the other end of it when I get it back." His eyes never left the dagger where it was pointed in the general direction of his throat (she really was horrible at threatening people). It was less than a foot away held loosely in her hand, but he couldn't reach out and grab it. His body seemed to be physically unable to do so. His only hope for freedom was if Anna purposely let him go. But his words had always been his most effective weapon, and she was still treating him like a person rather than a beast to be controlled, so he might still be able to win his freedom back. He just had to walk the fine line between 'too dangerous to make angry' and 'too dangerous to be allowed to roam free'. (He had a feeling she was the type to keep him a cage 'for the greater good' if he pushed too far. With the dagger in her possession, that was not a risk he was willing to take.)

His eyes panned up slowly to look her in the eye for a moment and she swallowed, expression firming into determination.

"Then I command you send me and this box home, to Arendelle."

"If I must."

It was all he could do to not let his shoulders slump in mingled relief and defeat as his gaze slid back down. But the defeat was really secondary at the moment; he was far more relieved by the fact that she hadn't commanded him to send the dagger with her – a foolish oversight that would grant him his freedom. And now that the hat was no longer enshrined in the Sorcerer’s vault, he could always regain it later, once he was free again.

He raised his hand to send her home, to end their high-stakes standoff, but she stopped him right before he could enact the spell.

"Wait!" He paused, balanced impatiently on the balls of his feet, and his eyes flicked to her face from where they'd been focused on the magical artifacts in her hands. "And also you can never hurt me. Or my sister. And you have to turn the mouse back into a man."

His face twitched as he felt the commands settling into his soul, restricting his magic and his will. He'd face the ramifications of her orders later - he had no idea how they would carry over when she lost the dagger, or how they would hamper his plans for the hat. For now, he was more focused on avoiding the impulse to submit vocally to her orders: even a simple 'Yes' would undermine his free will. And the curse wanted to go considerably further than that: apparently the standard protocol was to bow his head and say 'yes, mistress'.

Thankfully, she had no intention of forcing that on him, and she continued speaking before the curse could overcome his scrambling defenses.

"Okay!" She tucked the hat box close and nodded decisively. "Now I'm ready."

This time she did not interrupt him when he gestured, and she dissolved in a cloud of maroon smoke at his will. She would arrive in Arendelle unharmed with the box and hat. And without the dagger.

For a single heart stopping moment, he thought he would not be able to separate them, that the dagger would go with her....but then her hand loosened and she released the blade of her own volition, allowing him to separate it from the smoke while sending her away.

As soon as her presence had faded completely, he reached down and picked it up, feeling the cold metal settle into his grip with utter relief. He remembered what had happened to Zoso when he was enslaved and knew that most other Dark Ones suffered similar fates. As terrifying as it had been, this was one of the easiest and most gentle instances of losing the dagger possible...but despite the fact that it had only lasted five minutes, it had been a nerve-wracking and eye opening experience. It had also underscored his need for the hat. Which was now gone...and while Anna's power of compulsion had dissolved when he regained the knife, he had essentially made a deal with her to obey her last three orders. Such was the price of his freedom.

His hands began to tremble as mingled relief, frustration, and fury rolled over him, finally given outlet now that the chains that bound his soul were once again in his possession. His roiling emotions were released as a howl of fury: for the dagger, for Anna’s actions, for his own mistakes, for the loss of the hat…for anything related to the events of the last half hour. He whirled and lashed out, knocking the knickknacks off the nearest flat surface and cracking the wall down the center. His rage didn’t last long; as soon as the initial outburst was over, he simply stood there and panted, pulling himself back together.

The mouse had wisely scarpered down the stairs to the basement as soon as he’d begun breaking things, but he would need to find it if he were to obey that part of Anna’s commands. As for other two parts of the deal…

Well, ‘hurting’ was such a _broad_ term, wasn’t it?

Surely a simple visit to Arendelle and maybe a few words with an old…hm…’associate’ would not be amiss?

Poor Anna really had no idea who she was dealing with. Rumpelstiltskin thought it was about time she found out.

**Author's Note:**

> So originally this had a story behind it, where Anna held onto the dagger 'for the greater good' and Rumple was forced to sulk around Arendelle for a little while. I'd planned to make it a Rumbelle story, because this scene occurs shortly before Anna meets Belle in the mountains of Arendelle and if Belle got wind of Rumple's presence, she would definitely come to see him. He wouldn't be able to leave with his dagger held by Anna and Elsa, so their interactions were bound to be interesting. (Though apparently this occurred before she met him in the canon timeline...? That feels like a rather ridiculous retcon to me.)
> 
> However, season 4B is just...really confusing me. All of the characters seem completely OOC and I'm starting to wonder if I ever had their personalities pegged in the first place. I'm still writing but it's mostly AU and AC stuff that diverges pre-series.
> 
> Maybe I'll get some inspiration to continue when 4B is complete...
> 
> \--
> 
> Do y'all want to see the original ending? It's just an alternate paragraph when Anna is being whooshed away, but it sets up for Rumple heading to Arendelle. I'll edit it into the notes if anyone's interested.


End file.
